World Population Discussion Questions

(Illustrating Birth and Death Rates & Exploring Population Pyramids)

Instructions: Use the Population Pyramids (found at the end) to answer the
questions below.

1. Why is it useful to know the birth and death rates of a country?

2. Thinking specifically about the countries in the data table (Poland, Nigeria,
Hungary, and the United States), what challenges might each country face in the
future related to the changes in population? How do you think each of these
countries individual challenges affect the global population of people? (What
challenges does the world face based on the individual population growth of the
countries mentioned?) Use the internet to help answer.
COUNTRY BIRTH RATE DEATH RATE RATIO
Poland 10 10 1:1
Nigeria 42 13 3:1
Hungary 9 13 2/3:1
United States 11.6 8.7 1:3/4
 World Population Discussion Questions
(Illustrating Birth and Death Rates & Exploring Population Pyramids)

3. Using the growth pyramids, can you tell if there are more males or females
aged 0-4 in each country?

4. What challenges does a country face when there is a drastic difference in male
and female population? How would that be represented on the growth pyramid?

5. Are there more elderly women or men in each country? Explain the factors that
cause a difference in gender populations?

6. Looking at the 10 country pyramids, can you tell which country has the largest
population? Why or why not?

7. Looking at the pyramids, can you determine which countries have a slow or fast
population growth rate? How can you tell?

8. What are some challenges that countries with a large youth population could
encounter? How might this change the future?

9. What are some challenges that countries with large elderly populations face?
Looking at the pyramids, can you predict which countries will have a larger elderly
population than youth population in the future?

10. Thinking about the future, how might each country’s pyramids change by the
year 2050 if current population trends continue? How would this change be
represented on the World Population Map?
 World Population Discussion Questions
(Illustrating Birth and Death Rates & Exploring Population Pyramids)
 World Population Discussion Questions
(Illustrating Birth and Death Rates & Exploring Population Pyramids)